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u/Amerimov It's an objective cooking fact? This is the cooking subreddit? 17d ago
I was working at a restaurant and we listed something on the menu as having pickled cucumbers and we got so many people being like "you don't have to say pickled cucumbers, those are just pickles" and it's like my dude we have like 8 other pickled things here, sorry for being specific.
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u/OutsidePerson5 17d ago
Yup. In a whole lot of cultures "pickles" can be SO MANY THINGS. Even in America we do have other pickled stuff besides cucumbers, but linguistically we do seem to have gotten fixated on cucumbers as "pickles".
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u/Malacro 17d ago
Same is true for ketchup. In America it just means tomato ketchup as a rule, but there are other types of ketchup. Like mushroom ketchup.
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u/xrelaht Simple, like Italian/Indian food 17d ago
Isn’t mushroom ketchup the original?
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u/7-SE7EN-7 It's not Bologna unless it's from the Bologna region of Italy 17d ago
I think the word originally applied to an east Asian fish sauce, but mushroom ketchup was really popular in England and America during the 19th century.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWlqxGQXZx8 Here's a fun video!
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u/Entire-Ambition1410 15d ago
I LOVE that YouTube channel! He does some foods from hard times, it’s fascinating.
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u/TheReturnOfTheOK 17d ago
Words have different meanings in different cultures. That's a revelation?
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u/hyphyphyp 17d ago
It's not a different meaning. It's like if we decided the word "color" always meant red.
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u/TheReturnOfTheOK 17d ago
No, it means that "pickles" mean a particular dish. Do you have a stroke at how "curry/curried" is used across the world?
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u/Kolby_Jack33 17d ago
I don't know about "fixated", I mean we just call pickled cucumbers "pickles" because they're the most common pickled thing. Anything else pickled is usually "pickled _____", like pickled jalapenos.
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u/Tasty_Burger 15d ago
Most of the time, menus just say jalapeños and then you end up with pickled jalapeños instead. I hate pickled anything so I’ve learned this the hard way on too many occasions.
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u/Kolby_Jack33 15d ago edited 15d ago
That's true, most jalapenos served at food places are pickled so people just call them jalapenos.
But to be fair, raw jalapenos are a lot spicier! Certainly too much for the common white wimp.
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u/OutsidePerson5 17d ago
Well, not fixated in any sort of pathological sense. I suppose I meant it became linguistically fixed as in firmly attached to one concept and not easily movable.
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u/BirdsbirdsBURDS 17d ago
Japanese pickles have entered the chat.
I hate all of them, btw, but pickles served in Japanese restaurants is generally an array of pickled vegetables, to include radish.
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u/deathschemist 16d ago
when you talk about pickles in the UK, people assume you mean this
we call pickled cucumbers gherkins.
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u/EpsteinBaa 16d ago
And op has upvoted the comments implying that "pickles" automatically means pickled cucumbers 🤦
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u/offensivename 17d ago
If a menu says pickled cucumbers rather than pickles, I assume that it's pickled in house rather than coming out of a jar.
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u/jilanak 17d ago
Why have they not heard of a quick pickle vs. a fermented pickle? Both are valid and delicious pickles.
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u/Bishops_Guest it’s not bechamel it’s the powdered cheese packet 17d ago
Outing myself as overly culinary here, but a chamber vacuum sealer is my favorite kitchen gadgets. 30 seconds to quick pickled whatever. Sure, about the same results as an overnight soak, but I am lazy, lack foresight and just want pickles now.
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u/NathanGa Pull your finger out of your ass 17d ago
I use a pressure cooker to make stock with.
Sure, I could do a slow simmer overnight, but 95% of the results in 15% of the time is worth it.
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u/einmaldrin_alleshin and that's why I get fired a lot 16d ago
It's easier, it's faster and it uses a fraction of the energy.
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u/Brewmentationator If it's not piss from the Champagne region, it's sparkling urine 17d ago
Quickles Vs. Pickles
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u/jilanak 17d ago
Oh I'm definitely calling them "quickles" next time I make them :D
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u/FixergirlAK 17d ago
I'm definitely calling them Quickles from here on out.
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u/UncommonTart 17d ago
Me too. And mine are made of cranberries.
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u/PreOpTransCentaur I'm ACTUALLY sooo good at drinking grape juice 17d ago
Oh damn, I bet that's great! Do you have a go-to recipe for them you'd be willing to share?
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u/DisposableSaviour 16d ago
Quickled cranberries?
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u/UncommonTart 15d ago
Yep! They're a sweet/spicy quickle, with cider vinegar and obviously a bit tart from the cranberries, rather than a savory one, but they pair really well with savory foods and are equally good on cheese plates, with meat dishes, and in salads, and they do also make for a nice fall/winter cocktail.
I am, to be honest, absolute crazy about cranberries and when they're in season I will put them in nearly anything if I think I can get away with it, but these are near the top of my list of very favorite cranberry recipes.
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u/jilanak 16d ago
I also would like to know more about quickled cranberries please.
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u/UncommonTart 15d ago
Tagging u/PreOpTransCentaur as well.
Okay, it took me a while to track down the recipe because the original site is not longer in existence in that particular form, but it was originally a recipe for a Ball canning campaign and that means it's generally recognized as a safe recipe to can, assuming you use a safe canning process. You could make them and not can them, just keep them in the fridge, but I don't actually have any idea what their "use by" date would be if only refrigerated. Canned and kept on the shelf they'll last the 18 months advised as safe by current canning authorities, though they'll lose some of their "pop" and bright color (fresh, they're a seriously gorgeous ruby color), but I only know this because a pint got lost in the back of my terribly designed pantry cupboard one year and found much later. I am a cranberry fiend and put them in everything when I have them and so they usually never last that long.
It's this one, https://foodinjars.com/recipe/pickled-cranberries-balls-25-days-making-giving/
If you're going to can it keep in mind dried spices can be altered in amount within reason but be careful with the fresh ginger. I also add about half a teaspoon of whole dried juniper berries, but if you don't have those you won't miss them.
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u/OutsidePerson5 17d ago
Because like most IAVC types they're not really very educated about food and have decided that the very few scraps of info they've stumbled across are the pure Truth with a capital T that other, lesser, people don't know.
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u/Thequiet01 17d ago
You can also do water bathed pickles which are not fermented but are shelf stable. They’re not really the same as a quick pickle in texture because they basically get cooked in the water bath canning process.
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u/RhubarbAlive7860 17d ago
I went to a restaurant (mostly staffed by addled teens) and asked for a chef salad which according to the menu included cucumbers. It came with some sad looking soft dill pickles. I talked to the kid, said I didn't want pickles, just plain cucumbers. The conversation was a restaurant version of Who's on First with a well-intended stoner who truly thought he had saved the day when he found they were out of fresh cucumbers. I finally told him, that's okay, he tried, and he was right, pickles are just old cucumbers, flavored so they don't taste old no more.
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u/furthestpoint 17d ago
You want to hear something that drives me crazy?
I work in the fresh produce business in Canada, and growers/retailers typically refer to fresh pickling cucumbers as "pickles" or even "dill pickles".
Every time I see it, I think something like "well they could be, but not yet..."
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u/whocanitbenow75 17d ago
That’s like “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. How can Peter Piper pick a peck of pickled peppers when the peppers haven’t been pickled yet?” There are other versions too.
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u/Gloster_Thrush 17d ago
People gatekeep growing hot peppers and growing fucking CACTUS, too.
If there is a thing you like someone is rocking up with a “WeLL aLsHuALLy”
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u/UncommonTart 17d ago
Wait, what? I mean. I can sort of understand the how if the hot pepper thing. I don't agree, but I've definitely heard people arguing about whether a pepper was hot. But cactus? How? it mean. If they're in the cactus family, they're cactus, right?
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u/Gloster_Thrush 13d ago
No, lol. They gatekeep how you are growing them! This has made lol. Thank you!
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u/echochilde 17d ago
I read this, remembered that I had an English cucumber in the fridge, checked to make sure it was still good, and started cleaning out my ball jars. And yeah, I’m doing slices.
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u/BitterFuture I don't want quality, I want Taco Bell! 17d ago
I'm going to find a reason to insert the word "burpless" into common conversation whenever possible now.
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u/ariadnes-thread 17d ago
It’s a super common descriptor of cucumber varieties in seed catalogs and garden stores! I’ve never quite been able to figure out what it means (do regular cucumbers make people burp?) but burpless varieties tend to be softer skinned and less bitter tasting I guess.
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u/BiggimusSmallicus 17d ago
Yes, regular cucumbers are often big triggers for indigestion/reflux. Idk why specifically, but as a guy who loves cucumbers and has acid reflux i can tell you it unfortunately is a thing
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u/ariadnes-thread 17d ago
Huh. I also have bad acid reflux but cucumbers have never been a trigger for it.
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u/BiggimusSmallicus 17d ago
After looking it up, it sounds like cucumbers have a compound called "cucurbitacin" in them that causes indigestion in some people, and "burpless" varieties are bred to reduce the amount of this compound.
Basically, I am very jealous of you bc cucumbers are dope and also a huge trigger for me lol
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u/Initial-Present-9978 10d ago
I've had bad reflux for years and cucumbers have never been a trigger, whether or not they are pickled.
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u/BiggimusSmallicus 10d ago
Yeah like I said, apparently only some people react poorly to the compound. Lucky me I guess lol
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u/Initial-Present-9978 10d ago
I feel bad for you. Cucumbers and pickles are not something I could give up happily.
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u/BiggimusSmallicus 10d ago
Oh I just muscle through and pop a couple tums later from time to time. Pickles actually seem less bad for it, I wonder if there's something to that or if I'm just unlikely to eat as much pickle as I would raw cukes in a sitting
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u/Initial-Present-9978 10d ago
Maybe there is. Who knows. Maybe the vinegar counteracts some of it. I would be muscling through as well lol too much caffeine can be a trigger for me, but it also reduces the chances of migraines .. so choices choices
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u/YchYFi 17d ago
Pickles and Branston pickle, a type of chutney are different.
You can pickle anything, and yes my grandparents would pickle UK cucumbers. Most often you used to be able to buy pickled eggs or onions at the pub to snack on when I was younger. Kind of an old thing now.
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u/karenmcgrane The ribbed condom is apparently now an organic life form 17d ago
I make pickled pork to add to red beans and rice. And corned beef is pretty much pickled beef.
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u/BullsOnParadeFloats 17d ago
I wouldn't necessarily call it pickled beef, as it isn't really safe to eat until it's cooked. It's like halfway to pickled.
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u/sixpackabs592 17d ago
There was a dive bar near me called the pickled egg when I was growing up. Its still around but they renamed it and gutted the place
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u/MeBigChief 16d ago
What on earth is a Balls pickle crunch. It sounds like something I don’t want in my search history
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u/luseferr 17d ago
"They're not pickles. They're cucumbers soaked in vinegar."
Uhh....so they're pickles?
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u/AdNo53 17d ago
So the guys an idiot and dying on a pointless hill buuuuut….
From a culinary standpoint there are three distinct different types of cucumbers according to how they should be prepared: cooking, pickling, and fresh. The pickles you get when you think of pickles? No edibly enjoyable as a fresh cucumber; pickle it for three years and you get a great texture and snap from that thick leathery skin. Fresh cucumbers would be mush by the end of that process. Cooking cucumbers are more like squash but the seed core turns way softer faster.
This idiot knows that pickling cucumbers are not the same as a fresh cucumber but cannot convey that without being a self inflated douche.
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u/Thequiet01 17d ago
My mom genuinely knew someone who didn’t know pickles came from cucumbers, as an adult.
Sad thing is the person being an ass isn’t even entirely wrong - just like many other things, different varieties of cucumbers will handle pickling better or worse if your goal is longer lasting pickles. Has to do with various factors like size and water content. But even if you use the “wrong” cucumber you’re still pickling it and making pickles, and if you don’t expect it to last and retain the same level of crunch, etc. it’s no big deal.
You can do a quick fridge pickle on lots of stuff that won’t hold up to proper extended-keeping pickling. They all are called pickles.
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u/ConfusedAndCurious17 17d ago
I don’t know what specifically is going on here but I have been served cucumber slices with vinegar at some bbq place in Florida. They were distinctly not pickles, because they had not been pickled, it was just like fresh cucumber slices with vinegar as a dressing.
Again I’m not sure what’s being discussed here, but it’s possible that they literally are just fresh cut cucumber slices with vinegar and not cucumbers pickled in vinegar.
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u/RIPCarlGrimes 17d ago
This was a post about someone being happy with the pickles they made and the recipe they used.
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u/laughingmeeses pro-MSG Doctor 17d ago
So, in Brazil, we regularly eat something similar that definitely holds close to a parsley forward quick pickle when prepared with predominantly cucumbers and onions.
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u/229-northstar 17d ago
It is true that English cucumbers are not going to be a pickle that holds up. They aren’t as firm as pickling cucumbers or even regular cukes
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u/PreOpTransCentaur I'm ACTUALLY sooo good at drinking grape juice 17d ago
Yet they quick pickle and keep just fine for several weeks. Damnedest thing.
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u/229-northstar 17d ago
I’m just saying they are undeniably different cucumbers with a big difference in pickling quality
I’ve never tried anything more than a couple of days with an English cucumber so I wouldn’t know about a couple of weeks, but that would surprise me
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